Barbara Davis Gallery is pleased to announce two solo-exhibitions in conjunction with ArtHouston, Territory by Los Angeles-based multi-media artist Martin Durazo and Plinth by emerging artist Owen Drysdale, opening Friday, July 11, 2014, with an artist reception from 6:30 - 8:30pm. An open house will take place Saturday, July 12, from 12:00 - 5:00pm. These exhibitions are on view through August 22, 2014.

Martin Durazo's new paintings are comprised of layers of luminous colors varying in translucency, inspired by nightclub light strobes and their ensuing trace images. Durazo explores the experience to achieve an alternative spirituality, in which surges of energy motion upward searching for a heightened sense of awareness. The ground of each painting is a neon yellow, which suggests a hyper real color, as well as a color that illuminates under black light. Subsequently, multiple realities exist for the singular image. Transcendental in nature, these paintings are a part of a continuing body of work that examines the spiritual nature of lurid and illicit behavior, which travels through toxification and detoxification.Owen Drysdale presents new paintings and a site-specific wall painting that investigate the iterations of space and objects--physical, pictorial, and symbolic. The combination of gestural marks and subtle lines address the positive and negative space of the image to evoke a larger atmospheric field. By alluding to the architecture, the wall painting creates a correlation between interior space and the illusion of space within the actual painting. Drysdale employs pictorial conventions and calls attention to existing surfaces to analyze how vast and open space is defined. Martin Durazo received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Art from Pitzer College. Durazo is the recipient of the 2012 C.O.L.A. Individual Artists Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles and a 2011 California Community Foundation Fellowship Award, funded by the Getty Trust. His work was included in the inaugural 2011 SUR Biennial and in 2010 he was an Artist-in-Residence at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica. He has exhibited at the Torrance Art Museum; PULSE Los Angeles Contemporary Art Fair; Pomona College Museum of Art; MexiCali Biennial 2013; Harris Art Gallery at the University of LaVerne; White Box in New York City; ArtForum Berlin and Art Basel Miami Beach. His work has been reviewed in Flash Art International, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, LA Weekly, Artweek, and Art Review. He has also been a producer for KPFK Radio, where he is regularly featured in discussion about art and social issues.Click here to view more examples of Martin's work.

Owen Drysdale received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Texas State University, San Marcos. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the NAIRP, in collaboration with The Arts Council of Brazos Valley. He has exhibited at the Joann Cole Mitte Gallery I & II at Texas State University, including an exhibition juried by Claudia Schmuckli, director and chief curator at the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston. His work has been written about in Modern Dallas and the Austin American-Statesman. In the fall of 2014, Drysdale will attend Syracuse University to pursue his Master of Fine Arts in painting. Click here to view more examples of Owen's work.

Territory and Plinth open Friday, July 11, with an artist reception from 6:30 - 8:30pm and an open house Saturday, July 12, from 12:00 - 5:00pm. Artists will be in attendance. These exhibitions are on view through August 22, 2014. For more information, please contact Barbara Davis Gallery at 713.520.9200 or info@barbaradavisgallery.com.